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Born This Way (Episode)
For the song of the same name, see Born This Way (song). Born This Way is the 18th episode of Glee Season 2 and the 40th episode of Glee overall. It aired on April 26, 2011 and ran for an extended length of 90 minutes (56.49 minutes without adverts). Plot During dance rehearsals for the upcoming nationals competition, glee club co-captain Finn Hudson breaks other co-captain Rachel Berry's nose, caused by his bad dancing. Her doctor recommends elective rhinoplasty, and Rachel considers modeling her nose after Quinn's seemingly perfect nose. The two share a mash-up duet of Unpretty by TLC and ''I Feel Pretty'' from West Side Story. Both Finn and Rachel's friend Puck oppose her planned transformation. Puck tries to help her accept her nose as part of her Jewish heritage and recruits Kurt Hummel, who convinces her to look to her idol Barbra Streisand; someone who famously refused to succumb to pressure to surgically alter her nose. The three of them join the rest of New Directions and a mall flash mob in performing Duck Sauce's 'Barbra Streisand'. In the end, Rachel decides against going through with the surgery. Club member Santana Lopez uses Rachel's broken nose as a launching point to highlight the other group members' flaws. Aiming to help them achieve and Quinn singing I Feel Pretty/Unpretty.]]self-acceptance, glee club director Will Schuester urges them to embrace their perceived flaws, by printing them on T-shirts to be worn during a group performance of Lady Gaga's Born This Way. He also encourages school guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury to confront her OCD. She visits a therapist and admits to feeling ashamed of her condition. Though she is initially reluctant to be medicated, her therapist attempts to convince her that she can be helped and prescribes a low-dose SSRI which Emma takes, before emblazoning a T-shirt with "OCD". Santana, now a closeted lesbian, plans to run for school prom Queen in the hope that she can win the love of her best friend Brittany Pierce . Already suspicious that something is up with popular jock Dave Karofsky after hearing him arguing with Kurt and Blaine over "the truth" in A Night of Neglect, she realizes he is also in the closet after catching Karofsky checking out Sam's butt and suggests that they become one another's beards. Santana devises a plan to enable Kurt's return to McKinley from his new school Dalton Academy, ostensibly to bolster the group's chance at Nationals but really to boost her own popularity in an attempt to be voted prom queen. She claims to rehabilitate Karofsky (by blackmail), who'd previously bullied Kurt out of the school and the pair begin an anti-bullying scheme, called the "Bully-Whips". Karofsky issues an apology to Kurt at a group meeting involving Will, Principal Figgins and their respective fathers. Kurt proposes that they start a school PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) club and rejoices in transferring back to McKinley. Once Kurt transfers back to McKinley, everyone in the glee club warmly welcomes him. Kurt's boyfriend Blaine Anderson serenades him with a rendition of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, backed by the Dalton Academy glee club, the Warblers, during the performance Kurt shares a few goodbyes with the other Warblers and receives a brotherly welcome back hug from Finn, once the song finishes Kurt and Blaine share a loving hug and Kurt whispers "I'm never saying goodbye to you". Blaine walks off, looking back at Kurt as he is surrounded by his old friends with a smile on his face. Upon his re-entry to New Directions, Kurt gives a solo performance of As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard. As the race for prom queen intensifies, Lauren Zizes begins a retaliatory campaigning against Quinn. She discovers that Quinn's real name is Lucy and that she used to be an overweight outcast who had rhinoplasty before re-inventing herself and transferring to McKinley. Her explanation for her actions is: "That’s me. My middle name is Quinn. I stopped going by Lucy because kids made up a mean nickname." '' ''Lauren: "Juicy Lucy?" '' ''Quinn: "Lucy Caboosey. I hated the way I looked. I had zits, I was chubby. I felt terrible about myself. I didn’t have friends. Nobody would talk to me. I was the only kid at school who had to dissect their own frog because nobody would be my lab partner. And then I joined ballet, lost a little weight, found out I was athletic and joined gymnastics and cheerleading, went on proactive for my acne, and when my dad got transferred he got a raise, and I asked him if I could get a nose job, and he said yes, and I asked them to call me Quinn." Lauren: "So you hate yourself?" Quinn: "No I love myself, and thats why I did all those things. I’ve been that girl, and I’m never going back. I was a miserable little girl. And now I’m going to be prom queen." Lauren attempts to sabotage her campaign by revealing her former image with "Vote For Lucy Caboosey" on it to the other students but it backfires when Quinn's popularity actually increases amongst the girls who had previously looked up to Lauren. Humbled, Lauren apologizes but Quinn concedes and respects her for being proud of herself just as she is. Brittany tries to help Santana embrace her lesbian identity and prints her a misspelled T-shirt reading "Lebanese", that was supposed to read "Lesbian". Santana refuses to join in with the Gaga performance but does wear the T-shirt. The episode closes with the club,embracing their identities and performing 'Born This Way', while Santana and Dave watch from the auditorium. They all wore the t-shirts reflecting the traits they have learned to accept namely: *Artie - "Four Eyes" *Brittany - "I'm With Stoopid" (Upwards Arrow) *Finn - "Can't Dance" *Kurt - "Likes Boys" *Lauren - "Bad Attitude" *Mercedes - "No Weave!" *Mike - "Can't Sing" *Puck - "I'm With Stupid" (Downwards Arrow) *Quinn - "Lucy Caboosey" *Sam - "Trouty Mouth" *Santana - "Bitch" (Hers) "Lebanese" (Brittany's for her; supposed to be "Lesbian") *Tina - "Brown Eyes" *Emma - "OCD" (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) "Ginger" (originally, then she changed it to OCD.) *Rachel - "Nose" *Will - "Butt Chin" Songs Recurring Cast and Guest Stars Guest Stars * Kathleen Quinlan as Dr. Shane * Daniel Roebuck as Paul Karofsky * George Wyner as Nose Doctor Trivia *Least watched episode of the season with only 8.62 million viewers. *During the tour, Dianna wore a shirt that said 'likes girls' for the LGBT community. During the show, all shirts except Emma, Mr. Schuester and Santana's first shirt 'Bitch' were for sale (Because Naya wore the Lebanese one). *Lebanese has become a popular term used by the Glee fandom on tumblr. *When they did this live during the 2011 tour, Naya joins them, but Lea doesn't because Firework is after. *This is the fifth episode wich has the same name of a song featured in it. (First was Home, the second was Dream On, the third was Silly Love Songs, and the fourth was Blame It on the Alcohol). Controversy *The cutting-off of the gay/straight/bi lyrics in Born this Way performance was highly criticized by both critics and fans alike, considering the show's focus on sexuality and accepting yourself. Errors *During Somewhere Only We Know, while Blaine was singing and the Warblers say their good byes to Kurt, you can see Brittany go down the stairs twice. *When Quinn was posting the posters for everyone to vote for her and Finn for Prom King/Queen, if you look at the photo's... They are season two's promotionals... But, If you look at the promotionals... Quinn is a cheerleader in it, and she is not a cheerleader then. *In the scene where Karofsky is telling the Glee club about how sorry he was about bullying Kurt and his past, Santana tells everyone that she and Karofsky are now a couple. The camera then zooms to Sam and Mercedes. Behind Mercedes seems to be another Santana after she already walked up to Karofsky, because behind Mercedes was the same outfit Santana was wearing. *When Lauren and Quinn are talking about Quinn's past as Lucy Caboosey Quinn says "I stopped going by Lucy because kids made up a mean nickname." Lauren asks if the nickname was "Juicy Lucy" and Quinn tells her that it was "Lucy Caboosey", shortly after Lauren tells Quinn to check the bulletin board where there is a "Vote for Lucy Caboosey" poster. This is a mistake because Quinn told her about the nickname after she made the poster. Videos thumb|300px|left Navigational Category:Episodes Category:Season Two Episodes Category:Glee Wiki Awards Winner